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BEIJING, June 24 (TMTPOST)— Li Auto Inc’s ambitious product to compete with luxury auto giants received a warm welcome as the latest data showed a strong pre-order demand in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker’s home market.

Source: Li Auto

Li Auto announced Friday that orders for Li L9, have exceeded 30,000 in 72 hours since the model was available for reservation on Tuesday. This is another sign to demonstrate the product appeal of the vehicle for family users. It was reported that orders for the new model hit 10,000 within an hour on the launch day, which led to a brief outage for Li Auto’s app. Photos circulated online showed enthusiastic customers had stood in long queues to see the SUV outside some of Li Auto retail stores, an unusual scene comparable to frenzy shoppers’ queue for new iPhones years ago.

As Li Auto’s flagship smart SUV and its second model, the six-seat full-size Li L9 delivers a CLTC range of 1,315 kilometers and a WLTC range of 1,100 kilometers. With the same size as the flagship SUVs from Mercedes-Benz and BMW, L9 comes with a starting retail price of RMB459,800 (US$68,650), less than half of similar SUVs’ from two German luxury auto giants. Each Li L9 order requires a RMB5,000 (US$746.56) deposit, which is refundable for a limited period of time, and the delivery is set to commence by the end of August.

Ahead of the Li L9 launch, Li Auto CEO Li Xiang touted the model as “the best SUV under RMB5 million”. When the pre-order started, Li expected sales of Li Li9 to overtake Li ONE, a mid-size crossover SUV and the first model of his company, according to the national financial newspaper Securities Times. Li said the Changzhou manufacturing base now can meet needs for the new model’s ramp-up and the key bottleneck lies in the surrounding supply chain partners.

Li Auto saw a surprising 24.7% year-over-year (YoY) decrease in delivery in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic related disruptions in supply chain, logistics and production since late March, but the delivery in May improved notably with a 165.9% YoY increase as its parts suppliers in the Yangtze Delta region have gradually resumed production. In a statement in the start of the month, the company noted its Changzhou facility has not yet reverted to its normal production level, resulting in delayed deliveries for some of our users.

Li Auto is seeking to expand capacity and now working on an upgrade for a plant in Beijing, which it acquired last year from Hyundai Motor. It also planned to set up a new factory in Chongqing, a municipality in southwestern China.